Student drug concerns

A new report has found Tasmanian principals and teachers are worried about alcohol and drug use affecting student performance.

The Australian National Council of Drugs surveyed principals including some in Tasmania.

The results show school staff believe drug and alcohol abuse by students or their families is a drain on school resources.

The Council's Gino Vumbaca says students are getting a different message outside of the school system.

"Schools, when they do, provide drug and alcohol education information, can give all those right messages," he said.

"Sometimes some of them are doing a lot of work in their own time to keep up across the evidence and the like. But kids leave that environment, and those messages are undercut by incredible levels of promotion, of advertising for alcohol. "

Kathy Davis is a principal at a school in Tasmania's north and is with the state Principals Association.

She says drug and alcohol abuse can stop a child learning effectively.

"They need to come to school well rested, well fed, so their brains can work, so that they're not emotionally upset, tense, stressed," she said.